Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Pioneer Pittsburgh

An East Liverpool, Ohio, businessman turned social entrepreneur is offering to help save a bankrupt Pittsburgh icon.

Craig E. Newbold, 58, who operated a successful computer consulting business in the Seattle area, said he has offered Pittsburgh Brewing Co. a line of credit up to $500,000 to help preserve jobs in the region.

"I was impressed with his (Pittsburgh Brewing President Joseph R. Piccirilli) interest in saving the brewery and keeping that icon in Pittsburgh," said Newbold, who was raised in the East Liverpool area and worked in Pittsburgh and McKeesport.

Newbold is an archetype of the entrepreneur pioneer returning home, bringing his experience abroad with him. Newbold's success in Seattle allows him to inject fresh ideas into the Pittsburgh region. Ideally, he is forging the path for other members of the Burgh Diaspora to complete the loop of brain circulation.

Pittsburgh is ripe with investment opportunities for people with enterprise know how. But most of this knowledge capital is spread throughout the United States. Whatever Pittsburgh needs, there is an expatriate out there who can fill that niche.